Field Notes
by Byrdde
Summary: Sam's laptop, complete with some not-so-official notes, has gone missing off world. So not good...


Disclaimer: I do not own the _Stargate: SG-1_ characters gasp, shock, horror!  If someone knows how I might acquire them, please do share!

Summary: Sam's laptop, complete with some not-so-official notes, has gone missing off world.  So not good...

NB: Thanks to Wrider for beta-ing, everyone give her a big hand! polite applause and a few whistles  Now then, on with the show…

(*)

Oh, this was _so_ not good.

Three minutes.  She'd only left it there three minutes!  And now it was gone and she was so in trouble.  Not good at all.

What could have happened to it?  It wasn't as if she'd left it sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere or something.  It had been on the table she'd commandeered as a desk in one of the tents, with SGC personnel swarming outside.  Who could have taken it?

There was definitely information on that hard drive that really shouldn't fall into, well, _anyone's_ hands.  Damn.

Ducking out of the tent, Sam quickly assessed the situation.  There were people in USAF uniforms everywhere; pitching tents, hauling equipment, chatting, whatever.  One figure, outside of a tent across the makeshift road, was intently flipping through some sort of notebook or journal.  Gritting her teeth, she jogged over to him.

"Daniel?" He looked up, blinking hard after staring at his papers for so long.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen my laptop?" she asked, worry seeping into her voice.

"Is it missing?" he asked, eyebrows lowering and head tilting.

_No, of course not.  I just wanted to know if you remembered the color…_ "Yes."

"How?"

"I don't know!  I only left the tent for a minute or two, and when I came back it was gone…you haven't seen anyone suspicious, have you?"

"Well, a troop of Marines jogged by a few minutes ago…"

"Thanks, Daniel," Sam interrupted.  "I'll keep looking."  She stepped off smartly before he could start telling her about the papers he was examining.

This was the last time she left that computer _anywhere_.  Quite aside from the top-secret information, and the blueprints for countless alien devices, the personnel files for high-ranking members of the SGC, and other things the government tended to be protective of, she had started writing her mission report.  When she did reports in the field, Sam tended to just type notes about everything – absolutely everything, including several personal reactions to things and people that she'd _really_ like to keep private – and sorted through them to form a coherent report once they got home, deleting the more inappropriate or personal remarks.  

Yes, from now on, that thing was going to be handcuffed to her at all times.  Everywhere; eating, sleeping, diplomatic discussions, firefights with Jaffa…okay, maybe that was a little _too_ far.  But that was the general idea.

Where on Earth – or, more accurately, P3-X274 – could it be?

Over the next several hours, Sam combed the base for her missing laptop, to no avail.  Finally, as the double moons rose and something howled out in the wilderness, she decided it was time to report its loss to the Colonel.  This was not going to be fun.

She prayed to whatever gods – preferably not Goa'uld – happened to be listening that whoever had stolen it had not pulled up her mission notes files.  She had been very tired when she typed them up and there were some highly inappropriate comments stemming from following Colonel O'Neill up a ladder.  Comments on the view.  Oh this was so not good.

Pausing for a moment outside his command tent to take a deep breath, she heard a faint beeping from within.  He'd brought his Gameboy?  How typically O'Neill.

Pushing aside the tent flap, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the dim glowing interior lighting.

"Sir, I'm afraid I have to report…" Lighting curiously like that of a monitor… "the loss of my…" A monitor sitting right in front of the Colonel and attached to her… "…_laptop_!!!"  She stared incredulously at her commanding officer, who was sitting quite comfortably behind the notebook computer, an impudent grin firmly in place.

"Hey, Carter.  Did you know you can download Packman onto this thing?"

"Sir, I've been looking everywhere for that!"  She felt the color drain slowly from her face.  "You…Sir, you didn't do anything except play Packman, did you?"

"What else would I do?" he asked mischievously.  Not a good sign.

"Did I leave a file open, or anything?" she asked carefully.  _Please no, please no, please no, please…_

"Don't think so, nope," he said, fiddling with the keyboard.

"Thank goodness," she sighed in relief.  The Colonel raised his eyebrows.  "I mean, I'm glad nothing got deleted…Sir, could I have it back now?"

"Of course, Carter, be my guest."  He sat back as she scooped up the precious machine and started for the exit, still profusely thanking whichever gods had been listening before.

"Oh, and Carter?"

She turned.  "Yes, Sir?"

"Next time, you get to climb up the ladder first."

Finis 

(*)

NB: Adore reviews, absolutely adore them.  And I'm not above bribes: review mine and I'll review you in-genre (SG-1 fics).  _Valé_!


End file.
